Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Care when buying Lounge-suites off the Internet

Two bad experiences with buying lounge-suites through the Internet led me to write this Guide in the hope it will help others.ALWAYS check the company is a current registered company with Dept. Fair Trade/Consumer Affairs and also is important to always check they have a current ABN.*This is REALLY important:- If they use stock photos of their leather or material lounges- be careful as I found some companies are using these and have made up CD's of someone else's furniture (stock photos) and advertising their lounges as the product you see advertised- when they are actually using cheap international companies in Asia to COPY the styles and the leather and material samples, so what you get is a very inferior copy, poorly made with cheap materials and often not the same colour you had chosen because they can't always match the colour of the leather/material swatches/examples they use when they are using someone else's photos.ALWAYS ask if the photo shown is the actual product you'll be receiving- and if not, ask if any of the stock photos they are using are from ANY of THEIR actual products and if they took the photos of the product themselves, where the lounge was made, if it has been made already and how long until guaranteed delivery.I waited six months before a company delivered the lounge I had bought- they always had an excuse- and according to the delivery company, numerous people had complaints and had been waiting months for their lounge also. We had been quoted 4 to 6 weeks for delivery before committing to the sale.Make sure you get everything in writing and keep in a safe place.I received a different style and a different colour to what I ordered and the Australian company I bought it from, have refused to do anything and have cut all contact after I sent them photos of what I received and asking for a refund, and am now waiting for Dept. Fair Trade to deal with them for "misleading advertising" and to help me get a refund.Hope this helps anyone else buying a lounge-suite off the Internet.Some companies are doing the right thing by using their own photos, but some aren't. Be careful!

No comments:

Post a Comment